EVOO

EVOO.  That's fun to say.  Far more fun than extra virgin olive oil, but that's got its own fun.

Well, I have a new BzzCampaign from BzzAgent.  This one is for Filippo Berio, an Italian-imported EVOO.


When I join campaigns, BzzAgent often provides a quick way to report that I've joined a campaign on Facebook.  Well, this time I did, and one of my foodie friends replies with this:

"Hey, that is one of those fraud brands that was found not to qualify for evoo!"

Uh oh!  I hadn't heard about this.  We use a LOT of olive oil, particularly for dressings, but also for marinades and general cooking, and this is one of the brands we frequently purchase.

I looked to the study that my friend referenced.  The study was done by UC Davis Olive Center in conjunction with the Australian Oils Research Laboratory.

They purchased several samples of Italian, Californian, and Australian olive oils labeled as EVOO.  The brands included 6 Italian, 1 Californian, and 1 Australian.  The samples were then tested at both UC Davis and the Australian Oils Research Laboratory.  The testing included oil analysis, including chemical tests and UV inspection that detect degradation of the oils and contamination with lower quality oils, as well as taste-based analysis (by trained professionals--yes, there are professional olive oil tasters).

The results?  Unfortunately, Filippo Berio failed the taste-based testing in 84% of the samples.  Other brands did better or worse.  Notably, both the Australian and Californian EVOOs got perfect tasting scores.  Filippo Berio did pretty good on the chemical tests, with about a third of the samples failing one out of the four chemical tests, and only had the occasional sample fail the UV test.

So, while it often failed the tastebuds of highly trained tasters, the chemical analysis suggests that it's generally still good for you.

Now, after noting to my friend that I found it odd that testing done by a Californian institute and an Australian research lab found only 2 brands to be deserving of the name EVOO, and those 2 brands happened to be Californian and Australian, she mentioned that she had read that the problems with quality were thought to be due to the shipping and storage of the various brands.  That would make sense.  However, an Australian brand that was originally shipped to the US from Australia, and then back to Australia for testing should have some problems, as well.  Interestingly, though, the Australian brand passed with flying colors.

Now, I don't doubt that the testing is probably accurate, so one must ask a handful of questions:
1.  WHY do the Italian oils do so poorly?  My guess is that storage standards are not necessarily great, since shipping clearly can't be the problem.

2.  Are the Italian brands, including Filippo Berio good?  My guess, based on the chemical analysis, is that yes, they're good.  But not as good as they could be.

3.  Should I be buying/using Filippo Berio or some other Italian brand?  My answer would be to go for the Californian brand or the Australian brand IF you live in California.  As someone who lives in the middle of the country, I don't have access to the Californian brand that was tested.  And even if I did, would it have also suffered from poor storage and/or shipping conditions to get it to me?  I think it would require more testing to determine that.  In the meanwhile, buy a brand you like.  It's still pretty good for you.

4.  Should I be disappointed.  Yes.  While the oil is still good for us, it could be better.  However, without a way to identify which brands are better than others, Filippo Berio did pretty well in the chemical and UV tests, even if it frequently failed the taste tests.  That being said, I honestly probably wouldn't know the difference 99% of the time.